Please tell us about your role and your background.I am the Director of Safety Services at Mallory Safety & Supply. I started my career in commercial construction as a Union Carpenter in New Jersey. I completed a 4 year apprenticeship at the Joseph J. Aries Technical Training Center and worked on a variety of jobsites at that time, primarily performing heavy concrete and bridge work. After becoming a Journeyman Carpenter and attending a multitude of safety training classes, I decided to pursue a career in construction safety.

​I got my start in safety working for a NJ based safety consulting company, acting as a project safety coordinator at the Phillips 66 refinery in Linden NJ. I then became a Project Safety Manager for several large scale projects working at facilities such as PSE&G and Spectra Energy. After several years working at a project level, I became the Safety Director for a Mechanical contractor in NYC, where I gained a significant amount of management experience and mentorship from the company’s Vice President. After several years in this role I decided to get back into the safety consulting business and had the opportunity to work with a multitude of companies in various industries throughout the next several years, eventually getting into the sales and operations end of the safety consulting business. Currently, I am the Director of Safety Services for Mallory Safety & Supply, where I am responsible for managing our safety business operations throughout the country.

​Job safety is one of the most important issues in the construction industry today, and the tools/methods used to improve it are constantly evolving. After conducting research on the latest tools being utilized to improve safety in the construction industry while interning here at NHEO Institute, one tool sticks out from the rest of the pack: Virtual Reality.

After working on the Building A Safer Future campaign for several weeks now, I have learned the value and importance of safety in the workplace. However, it wasn’t until I interviewed a laborer, that I truly realized and began to understand the safety challenges that construction workers face on a daily basis.

Did you know that construction is the leading industry in workplace fatalities?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there was a 7% increase in the United States in 2016 compared to 2015. This is the third consecutive increase in annual workplace fatalities. Since 2008, this is the first time more than 5,000 fatalities were recorded by the Census of ​Fatal Occupational Injuries. It is evident that safety on construction sites is paramount. ​

Amongst these fatalities, electrocution is the second most fatal death with construction workers, which include contact with power lines, contact with energized sources, and improper use of extension and flexible cords. In order to prevent this from happening, here are five ways to ensure employee safety.

Regardless of whether you work at heights consistently or only now and again, your attention on safety amid those circumstances is of most extreme significance. It takes one slip-up to transform a standard work assignment into a casualty. Falls are weakening. Falls are savage. You should be set up to ensure your employees every last time they could be uncovered. Here are five hints to consider if your employees work at heights.